A housemaid is fighting for her life in hospital after setting herself on fire in an apparent suicide bid. The Sri Lankan housemaid, identified as RM, 27, locked herself in the bathroom of the villa where she worked, doused herself in barbeque lighter fluid and set herself on fire after she found out her boyfriend planned to marry someone else, police said.

RM is currently in the intensive care unit at Rashid Hospital with burns to 85 per cent of her body. Doctors at the hospital last night described her condition as “serious”.

Police were alerted by RM’s roommate, also a housemaid, and their sponsor, who came home from a shopping trip to see smoke coming out of the villa. They rushed in and found RM badly burnt and crying for help on the bathroom floor, police said.

A police source said the incident was reported at 2.30pm on Saturday at her sponsor’s villa in the Al Warqa area of Dubai. “An ambulance with paramedic was deployed to the villa following the report. She received first aid before she was rushed to hospital,” the source said.

Her roommate was able to read an apparent suicide note, written in Tamil, police said. In the letter RM said she wanted to punish her boyfriend, who lives in Sri Lanka, for betraying her.

She said she wanted him to live with the guilt of her death so that he would be unable to enjoy his marriage, police quoted the letter as saying. She also asked that her body be sent home so that her family could bury her.

Her roommate told police that RM was frequently in touch with her boyfriend, and that she had heard them arguing on the phone earlier that morning.